Posted on 04/02/2021 6:37:54 PM PDT by marshmallow
Parish priest Fr PJ Hughes says gardaí blocked roads to church
A parish priest in Co Cavan has accused gardaí of harassing him and churchgoers on Sunday as he went to celebrate Mass in breach of pandemic restrictions which do not allow public worship.
Fr PJ Hughes, parish priest of Mullahoran and Loughduff in Co Cavan, has already received a €500 fine following a Sunday Mass he celebrated on March 7th last in Mullahoran.
The priest has said he does not intend to pay this fine.
Speaking to The Irish Times about his dealings with gardaí on Sunday, he said: “they intimidated me going in to Mass. They intimidated me, and they intimidated the people.
“They were annoying the people and they were talking strong, telling us all the figures that we are all feckin’ sick of listening to on the radio, of over 5,000 dead, as if nobody else died of anything else only Covid. Telling us that we were ‘creating a hot spot’ and yet nobody from this parish has died of Covid.”
He explained: “I went down to a house of have a cup of tea with a family before Mass and on my way back up, they blocked the three roads leading into the church. They stopped at the top of each road.
“They had four cars; three squad cars and a big white van. There were eight gardaí in all and one car in the car park at the church.
“One man who comes to Mass here with his son, that man rang and said ‘the guards are after stopping me and I won’t get Mass today’.”
Father Hughes said gardaí “don’t realise what they are doing. It is one thing about Covid but the chance of getting Covid here is very, very low and............
(Excerpt) Read more at irishtimes.com ...
No fan of RC doctrine but this is commendable and it’s what we have to do. Easy for me to say I know.
John MacArthur said go ahead put me in jail; I have always wanted to start a prison ministry. He meant it. They folded. All they did was take the lease on a parking lot away. :))
Forum members probably can figure out from context that gardaí = police. Can’t complain about the old Royal Irish Constabulary any more; the “guards” are making Ireland far more of a police state than it’s ever been.
God bless and keep this priest.
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